Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/81

Rh You have listened, also, to the words of the small white man. Spotted Dog says death shall overtake all the Yellow Knives, and our wives, and our children. The white man says the Yellow Knives shall live. Is death better than life?" Slowly he rolled back the sleeve of his heavy Hudson's Bay Company shirt. "We must all die—Spotted Dog has spoken. If we be wounded with the little medicine arrows, we shall live—the small white man has spoken. If we must die, one small wound upon the arm is nothing. If, by one small wound, and one small sickness, we shall live—what is one small wound? Life is better than death, and we can do no worse than die—and Spotted Dog says we shall die anyway."

He extended his arm toward Connie. "Come, we shall be wounded upon our arms, and we shall bring in our squaws and papooses." A volley of protest surged from the lips of Spotted Dog—but the star of the medicine man had set—White Eagle silenced him with a gesture, and, motioning to the young men, ordered them to bind him and throw him into his lodge.

"We weary of your howling," spoke the chief. "Not one life has it saved in the village. When the